The disclosure relates to power tools and particularly to power tools integrated into a table that provides a work surface for supporting the workpiece, such as power table saws.
A number of power tools have been produced to facilitate forming a work piece into a desired shape. One such power tool is a table saw. A wide range of table saws are available for a variety of uses. Some table saws, such a cabinet table saws, are very heavy and relatively immobile. Other table saws, sometimes referred to as jobsite table saws, are relatively light and portable so that a worker can position the table saw at a job site. Some accuracy is typically sacrificed in making a table saw sufficiently light to be mobile. The convenience of locating a table saw at a job site, however, makes job site table saws very desirable in applications such as general construction projects.
All table saws, including cabinet table saws and job site table saws, present a safety concern because the saw blade of the table saw is sharp and moving at a high rate of speed. Accordingly, severe injury such as severed digits and deep lacerations can occur almost instantaneously. A number of different safety systems have been developed for table saws in response to the dangers inherent in an exposed blade moving at high speed. One such safety system is a riving knife which functions to restrain the workpiece from kickback. If the riving knife is poorly or loosely adjusted its function is compromised. Typical riving knives exhibit excessive play when in the unlocked position which hampers the ability of the operator to readily and securely fix the riving knife in its locked position. Another difficulty encountered by operators using a table saw arises in mounting and adjusting the riving knife. There is thus a need for a riving knife mounting arrangement that is intuitive to the operator and that allows the component to be easily and accurately engaged to the power tool.